Febris-Induced Case
by TheDarkFlygon
Summary: Kyoko likes to investigate little cases on weekends. This one is trickier than usual, but nothing much for the young sleuth. Well, that would be so if there wasn't another case running in the background, much trickier than the first one. [Naegiri, non-desp AU, best pals Makoto & Sayaka]
1. Daffodils in the Spring Haze

On a semi-warm day of April, two teenagers were on the street resolving yet another mystery, a lavender-haired girl walking with confidence and sporting a neutral expression accompanied by a smaller, petite boy with brown messy hair and a shyer walk.

She was scrambling some quick notes in a notebook, barely watching where she was walking. Her thoughts were fully occupied by her case: a robbery of an ordinary family of the neighbourhood, the Kizuisens, of which the main suspect was loan shark Yoshikazu Shirogane. It was a tricky case on which she needed all her fo-

"K-Kirigiri?"

The girl turned her head to face her companion. She let out an annoyed sight.

"What is it, Naegi? We don't have much time.

-B-be careful to where you walk, you almost got ran over by a car earlier…

-Oh, right, I'll pay more attention to that, thank you"

She had to focus on the case. Where was she again? That luckster boy got her out of her trail of thoughts. Still, it was kind of pleasing to see he cared about her enough to make her such a remark.

They were heading back to the Kizuisen household after Kyoko had made a huge discovery at Shirogane's house. It was clear now: the only documents stolen from the Kizuisens were about loans, files had been burned by the culprit to try and hide the stolen proofs and she had everything to back up her theories. Now, she just had to explain everything to her client, Mrs. Kizuisen, before the trial.

They were too slow. They had to be there as soon as possible to have enough time to make everything crystal clear. She turned her head towards her classmate and friend, not stopping walking for any second.

"Excuse me, Naegi, but could you go faster? We have to act quickly.

-S-sure…"

He was weird. Why was he so slow? He was much faster usually. When he was speaking, he was barely blurting his words. She didn't have much time to focus on Naegi anyway, she had to focus on the case.

W were getting closer and closer to the house, she felt as if her classmate was further and further from her. It didn't prevent her from concentrating on her case, her recap and her proofs. She finished writing down everything in her notebook before putting it away.

She heard a rather faint thumping noise from behind her. Thinking it must have been a mundane occurrence, she ignored it. At least, she did before she noticed some kind of fear on the faces of people around her. Something must have happened, but they didn't have time to ignore it.

"Naegi-kun, don't pay attention to that, we have to move forward."

Her order didn't trigger any response, a bullet pointlessly flying through the air. She decided to repeat herself – maybe he didn't hear her in this all-of-a-sudden busy crowd.

"Naegi, do you hear me? Don't pay much attention to that, we have to get there as fast as we can."

Met once again with total silence, Kyoko turned around to make him notice her. When she did, there was no Naegi to be found. Well, that was until she noticed a familiar ahoge on the ground, eyes pointing in its direction by bystanders. A feeling of dread made her almost forget about her case.

As fast as she could, the teen detective ran to the source of attention. Her primary fear was confirmed when she indeed recognized her own friend on the ground, almost entirely motionless if it wasn't for his rising and lowing chest.

People backed away when they noticed she knew the unconscious boy. Kyoko, now sporting a worried expression on her face, crouched down to the ground. He was alive, sure, but what had happened? A new investigation had to be leaded by the sleuth.

She gently turned him on his back and put his head on her laps. She took a slightly anxious breath and gave him a long, carefully analysing look.

He was not bruised but had a much paler skin shade than his usual one. She could notice sweat drops running down his face, matching his troubled and harsh breathing. Only a single conclusion reached her mind. Almost mechanically, Kyoko put her hand on his forehead. Oh, she could feel it through her glove.

Without a word, she carefully put him on her back and proceeded to go back on track. She blatantly ignored the surrounding looks put on her.

* * *

"Oh, Miss Kirigiri, you've came back!" exclaimed Mrs. Kizuisen when she opened the door to the lavender-haired girl.

A short silence followed while her tired eyes grew wide.

"What happened?!"

Kyoko internally gulped. She didn't know precisely the reason, and especially not what had happened. She wasn't even looking back there. She noticed so late what had happened…

"He lost consciousness, that's all I'm sure off."

Another silence.

"Anyway, I need to make everything clear as quickly as possible. I need to bring back to Hope's Peak."

They went to the living room, where the lady had put a blanket over the unlucky boy. The sleuth was doing her best to explain to her client what she thought had happened. Something was lurking in the back of her mind, crawling all over her focus ever so slowly…

"Miss Kirigiri? Is everything okay?"

The sound of the woman's voice got her out of her reasoning.

"You went quiet all of a sudden…" said to her Mrs. Kizuisen, looking directly into her purple eyes.

"It's… It's nothing. I'm sorry for this inconvenience. Where have I stopped?" she replied.

"I think it was at the burnt documents. Something is on your mind?"

Kyoko slightly jumped. Someone had read through her mind? Her cover was being dismantled. She had to focus again, but that something was invading her thoughts.

"That's right. If you'll excuse me, I'll bring my classmate back to our school. Let me give you my notes and phone number along with the pieces of evidence I've found."

The lady smiled, wrinkles cracking around her eyes.

"Oh, so that was what occupying your mind?"

"G… Goodbye"

The sleuth fled as soon as she could.

Somebody reading through her mind.

Her façade broken.

Naegi.

That case.

What was happening?

* * *

She had made her way back to the dormitories. She was lucky the corridors were empty, at least nobody would pop the question she dread-

A high-pitched, usually joyful voice rung through the corridor.

"Makoto!"

 _Maizono Sayaka._

"What happened?!" the pop idol asked with an intense worry in her voice and eyes.

"I don't exactly know myself. Please let me access to his room first."

Kyoko proceeded to the bedroom, Sayaka following without saying a word. They weren't looking at each other, one focusing on the door, the other one on her best friend. A short yet long lapse of time where only footsteps, breathing and key noises could be heard.

She eventually reached the door. As she pressed her hand against it, it opened. Just as she expected. It was obvious Naegi wasn't locking his door. As silent as she was previously, she entered the room, Maizono still following her.

Kyoko carefully put the boy on the bed before her classmate took off his shoes, jacket and hoodie. While this wasn't the first thing to cross her mind, she had to admit it was something to be done.

The two girls' priorities seemed to diverge a lot. When she headed to the bathroom to wet a washcloth or any piece of fabric she could find, the idol had grabbed the chair of the desk to put it next to the bed.

Once she had put a washcloth on Naegi's forehead, she noticed Maizono looking right into her eyes, her expression mixing worry with some kind of determination.

"Kirigiri, what happened to him?" she asked.

While she would avoid the question with Mrs. Kizuisen, she wouldn't be able to do so with her classmate. His childhood friend (as she understood it, they weren't very clear on that point). His best friend. Perhaps the one he had a crush on.

That last thought sparkled an uncomfortable feeling inside her. She ignored it.

"To be honest with you, I'm not entirely sure. He fainted when we were in the street. I wasn't looking, but it's surely linked to his current condition" replied Kyoko.

"You're saying you… Didn't see it? But weren't you together?" Sayaka's face deformed.

"We were but he was a few feet behind me"

"But if he fainted, you should have seen it, don't you?!"

That sudden burst would have startled anybody but she didn't flinch. She wasn't expecting a good reaction from Maizono when her best friend's health was the main problem. That wasn't the main issue, anyway. No, what was haunting her mind was…

Why didn't she notice so?

She was seeing herself in that street, her mind focused on the case, heading to the Kizuisen household. Naegi would answer her all the way through, until he stopped talking around some point. More of the case, the burnt documents about taxes, the ransacked room. People making a lot of noise. Her calling out to Naegi only to be met with silence.

And then the vision of his signature ahoge on the floor surrounded by the same persons that were disturbing their communication. Their poor, poor communication. The realisation struck her like a truck.

She had been blind and deaf.

Kyoko looked down. She was in too much shock to bother keeping up with her emotionless loner wolf façade.

"I was too focused on what I was doing, I wasn't even looking at him…"

"Kirigiri?"

Maizono marked a pause.

"You… You seem different than usual…"

The lavender-haired girl put a streak of hair behind her ear.

"I… I need some time alone. Take care."

Once again, as soon as she could, Kyoko fled from the scene.

Oh, _what_ had she done?


	2. Runaway Boy and Guilty Girl

She would have been wandering endlessly in the corridors of the Academy if she hadn't wished people wouldn't see her broken mask. Instead, Kyoko was in her room, for the first time in what felt like an eternity, facing feelings she didn't comprehend. She was… Lost.

She barely knew what had happened yet her brain was relentlessly trying to process the truth with what it had gathered. She wanted to know what had truly happened, but something there would object such a thing: she would never know. She couldn't. Everything had unfolded, and Naegi probably didn't remember the feeling of losing consciousness.

The hardest was realizing she had committed a grave mistake. The idea itself of a mistake was gut-wrenching. That shouldn't have happened. Of course, she had no problems pushing herself when investigating a really tough mystery, but it wasn't herself. It was Naegi.

Now she knew everything. She knew why he was slow, why his voice was so hesitant, why he was almost breathless, why his speech was so unusual. He had been sick all along, and she didn't even notice so until he was laying eyes closed on the ground in front of total strangers.

What had she done…?

A sudden stroke of memory hit her train of thought, bringing her back to the morning.

"Are you ready, Naegi? We're leaving for the whole day, you know."

"I am! Well, eh, I feel a little funny but it's gonna be all right!"

His cheerful voice had nothing wrong with it, neither did his face… That was wrong. That was _entirely_ wrong. A complete lie he had decided to make up. A complete lie she had wanted to believe in and had jumped straight into it.

But why did he try to make her think he was doing mostly all right? He must have known he was sick. Worse, he must had seen the unavoidable happen. He must had seen himself fainting in the middle of the street. All this time, he had tried to follow her as close as he could. Why? Why?!

Why had he done such a thing?!

Why had he hidden such a thing?!

 **Why** had he hidden such a thing from her?!

Her thoughts were a mess. For the first time in what felt like forever, Kyoko was beyond herself. She wasn't thinking of a case, nor of school. She didn't like being in such a mindset, exposed to anyone and even to herself.

She had to think about something else. The case, the case, the case… The burnt documents, Shirogane's desk, the loans, the fact only bills had been destroyed, a leftover of a lighter…

An ahoge on the floor surrounded by bystanders.

The documents, the tensions between the Kizuisens and Shirogane, the past cases involving the latter revealing him to be a scammer…

"B-be careful to where you walk…"

The documents, the evidence, the documents, the evidence, the documents, the evidence, the documents, the evidence…

"Makoto?! What happened?!"

The documents, the documents, the documents, the documents, the documents, the documents, the documents, the documents, the documents…

She could only think about Naegi.

And then all the questions came to her. How was he really doing? What had he caught? Was it grave? Was she at fault? Why had he done that? Did he really think she was going to scold him for being sick? Was she really that frightening? That impossible to read? Then how did her client and Maizono get that she was worried? What would she-

"Driiiing!"

Kyoko jumped at the bell of the room's sound. Almost mindlessly, she went to open the door. Immediately after she had done so, she froze. That… Couldn't be happening. She was delirious. No, wait, she wasn't.

But then, why was Naegi standing in front of her door?

* * *

Shortly after, a familiar voice could be heard.

"I told you not to get up from your bed! You're still sick!"

Maizono Sayaka's voice filled the corridor while she was running to the runaway boy.

Kyoko locked her eyes into her comrade's ones. She didn't intent on letting that pass of everything. His legs looked like they were about to break under their own weight, sweat drops could be seen dripping from his face and his left eye was closed, the right one barely open.

"Naegi, go back to bed."

Maizono's face appeared right next to him only a few seconds later, almost out of breath.

"She's right, Makoto, you should be in bed right now!"

"It's okay, Sayaka… I'm going back there if you want me to as soon as possible…"

Kyoko could feel herself frown.

"No, you go there right now. You're in no shape to be standing there right now like nothing is wrong."

"That's not _that_ important, Kirigiri…"

"State why you're insisting on talking to me right now."

She could see Naegi grasping on his remaining strength to stay up, his eyes closing on their own. He was frustrating to see. Even his health was an open book.

"I… I…"

Before he could even continue his sentence, the unlucky boy's legs failed him and he collapsed only to be barely caught by a clearly startled Maizono.

"I told you, you're in no shape to be up!" she cried, her eyes fixed on him.

"Maizono is right, Naegi, go back to bed" added Kyoko, a hint of anger in her voice.

"I… I just wanted to apologize…" they heard him mutter in a usually low voice.

Kyoko felt herself losing control of her barely rebuilt mask.

"Apologize for what?" she asked.

"F-for… For earlier…"

"You can barely talk."

"You can explain that stuff later! Go back to bed!" Maizono stepped in.

She clutched him harder than before.

"Kirigiri's right! You can barely keep yourself awake! Don't make it worse!"

"S-Sayaka… I… I have to… To…"

" _Shut up_!" she suddenly screamed.

As if she wasn't conscious of her own rage, the idol let her friend go. Naegi felt to the floor back first, the detective being taken by surprise. She wasn't expecting Maizono to lose her temper so quickly. It was building up but the climax came a little too early.

"S-Sayaka…?"

His eyes were barely open anymore. His sweat drops were close to fall on the floor.

" _Shut up_!"

The blue-haired girl took a deep breath to calm her down. Only then would she start to explain herself.

"Have you seen yourself, Makoto? Kirigiri would never ask for any apology from you when you're like that! Look at you… You can't even stand up… We just don't want to see you like that!"

Naegi looked like he was about to reply, but he passed out before being able to do so. Kyoko looked at her standing classmate, whose eyes had reddened, as they silently decided to bring their friend back to his room.

* * *

"Kirigiri?"

Troubled out of her thoughts, the detective lift up her head to face her classmate sitting at the other side of the bed. She wasn't teary anymore but worry had filled her face to the point of having grown a shade paler. She could just touch her feelings.

"What is it?"

"Can I ask you about something?"

"If it's not too personal, you may."

Once again, the idol took a deep breath and stared at the lavender-haired girl. She had a new aura of determination around her.

"If you don't mind… What were you doing with Makoto?" she asked.

"We were investigating on a tricky robbery case involving a loan shark. Nothing dangerous" calmly replied the sleuth.

"Was something wrong with him?" questioned again Sayaka.

"As I said before, I wasn't paying enough attention to that during the investigation but something was definitely weird with how messy his thoughts were. I should have played more attention to that" responded Kyoko, still keeping up with her façade.

Inside, she was burning up. Burning up with guilt.

"…It's my fault."

The words escaped her mouth.

Shit.

Maizono had probably heard.

She wanted to flee again, but if she did, would Naegi go after her again? Would Maizono cry again in desperate worry? She just decided to lower her gaze.

"Kirigiri?"

Kyoko barely looked up.

"You… You really feel guilty for what happened?"

Silence.

"Yes."

That wasn't for Maizono's sake. She had never wanted to be so openly personal with such a girl. Who knew what she had been able to do to become an idol and acquire her popularity. Even if she seemed to genuinely care for Naegi, Kyoko was less than willing to tell her about her deep feelings.

Well, even Naegi would never know about those anyway, would he?

"I… I'm sorry too. I was rude earlier when I snapped at you for not paying attention to him. It's true that you were on a case, but… I was so worried for him… I still am…"

"Maizono, it's okay. I should have been paying much more attention to him on my own. I just can't stop thinking about what he could have possibly thought."

"What do you mean by that?"

"He didn't tell me anything. I want to know _why_."

Sayaka looked at her bedridden friend before adding on.

"I don't pretend to know I exactly understand Makoto by heart, but… I think he didn't want you to worry and to focus on the case instead of him…"

"That doesn't answer why he didn't just stay here, if he knew he was sick."

"Kirigiri, don't you understand?"

She was confused.

"Understand what?" she asked.

"Oh, you may be one of the best detective in the world, but you're bad at that!" giggled Maizono.

"I would have told you what I think he thought, but I prefer letting him do so. After all, he wanted to say it to you so badly he…"

She grew silent all of a sudden.

"…I'll just let him."


	3. Heated Conversation

The room was plunged in a deep, undisturbed silence. She could have done actually useful and interesting stuff, she had the time to do so after all, but she wondered what he could possibly do if she happened not to be by his side when he wake up. He had showed he was capable of.

While she was reading a novel, Kyoko heard light coughing. Even if this was such a faint sound, she could hear it perfectly. She was used to listening to almost quiet discussions. She knew what that meant and put her book away.

It would only take a few seconds for the boy next to her to stir and slightly open his eyes. She carefully watched him wake up, without a word, just silently watching over him.

She knew he would ask about Maizono when he would first wake up. She was the last one he had seen before passing out on the floor. But a part of her knew the idol would have probably screamed in his ears asking how he was feeling, telling him about how she had been worried for him. No, he wasn't in condition to deal with this kind of high-pitched excited rambling.

Naegi's eyes turned to her, mostly closed.

"Ki… Kirigiri…?" he whispered, his voice almost caught up inside his throat.

"Indeed."

"You…"

He was about to speak, but a fit of cough stopped him temporarily. Kyoko could have sworn she heard something in his throat. Probably mucus. That wouldn't be a surprise.

"Why you… Are you here…?" continued Naegi.

His eyes had trouble to adjust to the light it seemed.

"Because you need someone to watch over you."

"I… I don't…"

He coughed again, only stronger.

"You're the one who staggered to my door burning up with fever."

Naegi's eyes opened more when he looked at his arms.

"Wait… Where is my…"

"Your hoodie? Maizono took it off when putting you to bed. You would only make yourself sicker that way."

Silence again. Kyoko wasn't sure of how she would ask him what had invaded her mind. She also wasn't sure if he was in the right state to reply correctly and honestly. He wasn't that naïve: he knew she had been worried for him the moment she had opened the door.

He had clearly been hiding something from her and that was frustrating her more than it should have ever done. Or had he just been reckless? Considering who Makoto Naegi was, she wouldn't have been so surprised…

But then, why would have he attempted to apologize to her earlier on?

"Kirigiri…? What's wrong…? You look… Weird…" she heard him mutter.

"You're just delirious, Naegi" she replied, keeping her façade on check

"I'm not… You look… Sad…"

"I'm not sad."

"Then… How are you…?"

Kyoko blocked on the spot. Was her mask broken again? Was he seeing through her game?

"Bullseye…" whispered Naegi, his voice a little clearer.

"What… What did you see Naegi?" she asked, trying to hide her surprise.

"You're… You're not worried aren't you…?"

She paused. Why bother keeping up a façade when he could say such things so easily? She felt even more frustrated now. She had to keep it together not to snap at him.

"Of course I'm worried!"

It escaped her mouth.

"You really were…?" he asked, a slight hint of surprise on his face.

"I am, yes. Why wouldn't I?"

He didn't respond and just looked away.

"Why… Why do you worry about me…? I'm just an average guy…"

Naegi was caught in such a coughing fit he was gasping for air when it was over. She could feel her worry grow second by second. He really was in an awful condition.

"Stop repeating that, Naegi. I worry about people I care about when they're unwell. And in your case, you're beyond sick."

He just looked at her, breathing heavily and eyes only half-focused.

"Why did you hide that from me?"

He said nothing.

"Why did you hide that from me, Naegi?"

He coughed a little bit before smiling. She couldn't tell if it looked forced because of his sickness or because he really did force it onto his face.

"You said that case was very important to you… And you asked me if I wanted to assist you… It was important and I… Couldn't…"

He coughed. The detective could see green in the palm of his right hand. That wasn't just a little cold.

"You couldn't what?" her tone got sharper.

"I couldn't abandon you the morning before…"

His eyes filled with tears. That itself provoked another spark of bad feeling inside her already blackened heart.

"…and yet I was useless… I barely followed… You did everything alone…"

She was definetily showing what she was thinking. There was no way she could hide the intense feelings she was having.

"I'm sorry, Kirigiri."

That was the nail in the coffin. She was the one who pushed him to do such a thing. He knew he was sick. He knew it was going to worsen. And yet he went with her. Not because he was reckless, or because he was scared of her.

Because he didn't want to _give up_ on her.

And yet she was barely able to put her thoughts into words. She felt happy for having someone caring so much about her… But guilt was making her blood boil. That wasn't right. Being so selfless wasn't right. He could… He could… With such a spirit, he could… He could _die_.

She didn't want to lose him.

Kyoko looked down, eyes hidden by her bangs.

"Naegi."

"What is it…?"

"Never do that again. Please, never do that again."

The unlucky boy slightly got up. He really shouldn't make any effort, but who was she to tell him what to do?

"I… I really did something wrong… You look so… So sad, really, Kirigiri… I wasn't meaning to do so…"

He coughed and spit again. Green. She hoped he wouldn't turn into rust nor red…

She was burning up with guilt, with guilt, with guilt. But curiosity got the best of her. She preferred to focus on him than her anyway.

"Did you know you were sick?"

"I did, yeah… It wasn't so bad this morning though…"

"Naegi… It was already bad this morning, wasn't it?"

He gasped before coughing.

"You… You knew it…?!"

"I wasn't paying much attention but I can recall you being paler than usual and coughing here and there."

"I'm sorry, Naegi."

The boy blinked. His eyes were now almost fully open, as if they ignored his fever.

"But… Kirigiri… Why are you sorry…?" he asked, naivety in his voice.

"Because I didn't pay attention to you. You went through all of this, in such a bad shape, and I didn't even look at you for more than five seconds. That wouldn't have happened if I had paid attention to you, Naegi."

"You shouldn't feel sorry, Kirigiri, it's normal to help friends…"

She snapped.

"Not when your fever is reaching forty you idiot!"

Naegi clearly looked startled. Even in his cough he kept the surprise on his face.

"Don't you understand? You don't go outside when you're _that_ sick! I'm happy you care that much about me, but I… I… I don't want you to put your health on the line to help me with some case! If I hear one more apology from you, I'll…"

She was clutching her fist not to scream or explode at him. She had to keep her calm.

"I can't deal with it, Naegi. I can't let that pass so easily when your condition was caused by me asking you if you wanted to help me."

After a few seconds of silence, he finally spoke up.

"I didn't know you felt so bad about that…"

"And I didn't know you cared so much about me."

Still, the question was burning her lips. Kyoko had to ask him.

"Why did you hide that from me? I wouldn't have hold a grudge against you or forced you. There must be something else than wanting to help me."

"I didn't want… I didn't want you to worry about me"

He coughed then continued.

"But that was a failure… Now you're worried sick about me…"

Kyoko couldn't feel but warming up to him. It was the worst moment to think how cute he was when he was that sick. Deep inside, he had moved her. While she wasn't sure her guilt had reduced, and she still felt bad for him feeling so sorry, she indeed felt a little bit better now that she had spoken to him.

That didn't mean the last thing he had said wasn't complete garbage.

"Naegi. How many times will I have to explain this? I'm less important than your health. Please, take care of yourself. You had Maizono and I really worried about you. And don't even think about getting out of this bed."

She blushed.

"I'll watch you tonight. I don't want you doing anything reckless again. Seeing you collapse in front of me once was enough."

When she got up, Kyoko noticed that he was stretching a hand towards her. A little smile appeared on her face.

"I'm not leaving you for long Naegi. I'm just getting you the school nurse."

And with that, she left the room, making sure to lock it with the key she had "borrowed" earlier.

She had to return the favour.


	4. There's Rust on your Shoulder

"Cough for me, please"

The nurse had been actively examining Naegi for a dozen minutes. Kyoko was just… Watching. Maybe that was indiscreet to do so when he was both examined and topless. Oh well, she was there now. She didn't want to leave his side.

The nurse put her stethoscope away and switched tools for a flashlight and a flat wooden stick.

"Open your mouth now please"

Kyoko didn't know much about the medical field outside of corpse analysis. She knew what could kill, time before a dead body would start to harden, how to identify wounds… However, she didn't know much when it would come to the health of a living being. It would have been useful for her to have studied medicine at the moment.

A few minutes later, the nurse had asked her classmate to put on his top again. When his hands reached for his hoodie, the detective grabbed his arm and looked into his eyes.

"No, you're not putting that on to sleep."

"Kirigiri is right, Naegi, you should avoid overheating yourself" the middle-aged woman added as she put her stuff away.

Kyoko let out of his arm and looked at the nurse.

"What did he contract?" she asked, trying to make her voice as emotionless as possible.

"It seems to be either a bad case of bronchitis or a rather light case of pneumonia. I would say the latter because fever hit him so suddenly, but there is a lack of sympto-"

"Naegi, show your hand" suddenly interrupted the sleuth.

The boy was startled, as his eyes looked away and his ears reddened.

"Show your hand, Naegi" she repeated.

"But why…?"

"You're coughing up something weird"

Jumping on the occasion, the nurse opened his hand only to see rust splattered on his palm.

"How did you know that, Kirigiri?"

"He would have wiped his hand with the tissues in the box next to him if he had coughed up mucus. He tried to hide something, probably worrisome."

Again, huh. He would never learn, would he?

"You shouldn't hide such things when you're being examined, Naegi" said the nurse.

"Kirigiri, watch over him please. I have to go get some medicine for him."

A silent nod gave a response. The woman left.

Kyoko didn't let a blank in the meantime. He was going too far.

"Naegi, what did I tell you about hiding such things?"

When he tried to answer, his words got muffled in his throat and he got thrown into a violent coughing fit. It only ended when a rust-coloured substance came out of his mouth. That was one fear granted. That rusty colour could only mean one thing…

He was coughing up blood.

The boy was left gasping for air once again, eyes tearing up. Without thinking about it, Kyoko wrapped up her arm on his back, putting her other hand on his chest to support him from slumping. He winced as soon as it got up there while his left arm clutched his chest, his fingers almost forming a closed fist. His eyes were tight shut, his teeth gritting.

That was unbearable. That vision was unbearable. More so than him hiding something again because he probably didn't want to worry her. Suffer was way, way less painful on a dead body's face than on her friend's one.

He started to cry.

The already unbearable vision was just getting worse and worse with time passing.

"Ki… Kirigiri…" he whimpered "It… It… It hurts…"

Her heart was about to break. Kyoko felt oh so powerless, so handicapped, so weak, so useless. Even the best of her abilities couldn't do anything against what was happening. Her talent had no use. His symptoms had skyrocketed so suddenly she hadn't seen the pain coming.

Her chest hurt. She had to keep her tears to herself: she needed to be strong for him. He was in need of someone to watch over him, to try and soothe him. She would be the one to do so. But for now, she had to put him back into…

"Don't do that, Kirigiri!"

The yelling voice of the nurse entering the room made her slightly jump.

"What happened?!" she continued to scream.

"I-I don't know, the pain appeared so suddenly…" barely responded the lavender-haired girl.

"If you put him on his back, it will only hurt more…"

* * *

"It's definitely pneumonia" affirmed the nurse after a second, quicker exam.

"Do you know what caused the pain to be so much stronger all of a sudden?" asked Kyoko, trying to hide her stressing worries.

"I can't know for sure, sorry. Anyway…"

The nurse paused before jumping to a similar topic.

"I have to add some painkillers to what I had originally planned…"

"Any rule he needs to follow? Any advice?" questioned the teen.

"The obvious ones: rest, not attend class for a while and limit any physical effort…"

"Something's wrong?"

Some silent seconds.

"Do you intend on watching him over, Kirigiri?" she asked.

"I do."

"That's what I thought. Here, take this before you fall sick too."

Kyoko grabbed the mask the nurse was lending to her. She uttered a "thank you" before being let alone a second time.

She hadn't noticed Naegi had fallen asleep meanwhile. The painkillers the nurse had given him must had been how he was able to do so after having cried his pain out. At least, he was not suffering meanwhile.

This made her smile.

* * *

In the middle of the night, a scream woke her up. It had been so sudden Kyoko's eyes were already wide open, and in a reflex, she got up from her chair. She hadn't even realized she had fallen asleep. However, her priority was searching for the source of the scream.

The obvious was obviously obvious: it was Naegi. She got her flashlight out (a detective always needed to have a flashlight on her) to see what it was about.

Even when pointed to the ground, the light it emitted allowed the sleuth to see her classmate awaken, sitting in his bed, gasping for air before coughing, an arm used as a crutch and another around his ribs. She pointed it in his direction, only for him to notice her presence.

"Kirigiri… What are you…?"

"I told you that I was going to watch you over. You need someone to do so at the moment, don't you?"

He just nodded, followed by a short coughing fit.

"What happened? You seem shaken" she asked him.

"A nightmare…"

"What kind of nightmare?"

Secretly she hoped his dreams would help her understanding what he was truly feeling and how she could help him.

"We… We were attached to a table… You were behind me… We couldn't break free… We were headed to a trash compactor… While a strange bear was teaching us about birth… I woke up when you were about to get crushed…"

An absolutely nonsensical nightmare that had probably been fuelled by his high fever. She should had expected so.

He fell back onto the pillow in his back laid against the wall. Even in the darkness, barely enlightened by a flashlight facing a featureless wall and a trashcan, she knew he was holding back something. She was hearing faint whimpers. And they weren't hers.

"Naegi?"

"I… I don't want to see you die…"

He was barely able to talk because of how strangled his voice was.

"You… You're gonna get sick… If you stay… With… With me…"

He was coughing between each piece of sentence he was able to get out.

He eventually started to choke when trying to speak, rendering his words intelligible. She had to step in, that couldn't last.

She got on the bed and faced Naegi, using sounds to direct herself. She eventually put her hands around his face and pull him into a hug. What was she even thinking?

Now her façade was most definitely broken.

"Kiri… giri…?" he barely muttered.

"It's okay, Naegi. You can cry. It's okay."

"You… You're gonna…"

"I'm not going to get sick. I'm going to stay by your side. You need so."

"Why… Why would you… Help such a… Ordinary… Guy…"

He got caught in an intense coughing fit that resulted in some substance getting on Kyoko's jacket.

"I… I'm sorry…!" whimpered Naegi.

"I told you, it's okay. Everything's okay. Stop worrying about me."

"Kirigiri… I… Thank you…"

She wasn't exactly sure of why he was thanking her, but she rolled with it. He must had been pretty tired after all.

"Sure, you're welcome. You can go back to sleep, nothing is going to happen to you. I'll not allow that to happen anyway."


	5. Warmest of Tears

He had passed out in her arms shortly after she had told him everything was okay. He was kind of cute when he was (somewhat) peacefully asleep. Brushing off such an embarrassing thought, Kyoko gently put Naegi on the pillow in his back.

When she felt something wet falling on her tight, she remembered something: she probably had a rusty spot on her jacket. Only after that did she realize there was indeed something wet on her tight. It was… Unusually warm, almost hot. Then it struck her.

It was the washcloth she had put on his forehead.

The detective carefully took off her gloves and put them away. There was no way she would let her them be wet by the piece of fabric. With her now bare hands, she took the washcloth in her hands only to notice how drenched it was.

The smell coming from it was… Awful. It wasn't the stench coming out from rotten flesh, sure, but the strong odour of sweat coming out of it was enough for her to frown. She was lucky to have taken off her gloves or they would have smelled like that for days.

Her flashlight in her left hand and the washcloth in the other, Kyoko headed straight for the bathroom. The warm had been transmitted right from his body temperature and was useless if she had ever wanted to make said body temperature lower. It was time for a change.

She put the washcloth in the sink and made cold water flow, even if she did wash her hands first. Having more or less Naegi's sweat on them wasn't feeling right, mostly because of how disgusting it was to have someone else's body fluid on her.

Taking care of people wasn't her speciality, and it's only after few seconds she realized that washcloth wasn't going to evacuate the warm, dirty water by itself. Well, she had touched corpses in the past, it couldn't be that grosser to twist that washcloth, despite how drenched in sweat it was. There wasn't only sweat in it… At least she hoped so.

Even if it felt weird at first, Kyoko quickly brushed the feeling off and continued normally. Her talent wasn't Ultimate Caretaker but she could do something better than Makoto on his own. Once it was dry enough, she made sure to drench it in cold water. It had to be as cool as possible, and since he was unconscious by now, he wouldn't wince because of the temperature change.

At least, she hoped he wouldn't be a victim of temperature shift. That would only get worse if it happened, wouldn't it? She cleaned her jacket's shoulder and got out of the bathroom.

Back into the main bedroom, she carefully put the washcloth on his forehead, making it as flat as she could on his skin. She was strangely caring, she thought. For someone who had lived most of her life alone, she really was caring for this classmate of hers.

He was right when he was saying he was ordinary, at first glance. His appearance didn't stand out, his hobbies didn't. His talent, "Luck", was indeed standing out because of how out of place it sounded compared to Gambler, Biker Gang Leader, Fashionista, Pop Idol, even her own talent, Detective.

And, well, "lucky" wasn't exactly the adjective she would use to qualify someone bedridden with an absurdly high fever and atrocious chest pains.

But something about Naegi was different. Maybe it was his optimism, maybe it was his smile, maybe it was how friendly he was compared to the class at the beginning of the year. Or maybe, well probably, because of how insanely _kind_ he was.

Kyoko had always felt lonely. She was cold to strangers, mostly because her father had abandoned her and previous partners of hers had dumped if not abused her. Her only goal when getting to Hope's Peak was finding her father and telling him she was cutting all ties with him.

But now she had another goal: taking care of a boy she didn't know anything about before entering there because he just couldn't do it by himself when _she_ was involved. It… didn't bother her. It didn't annoy her.

It was barely herself to care about living people outside of witnesses before. And now she had talked to Maizono about his health.

Makoto Naegi was indeed someone out of the ordinary. His dedication to her was something to be admired, but also happened to be one of the most reckless things she had seen. It was impossible he was that sick earlier in the week, alone in the week. She was convinced following her in a pollen-filled city while carrying who knows what germs was what caused him to be so ill.

His dedication only strengthened when she remembered a conversion she had overheard between him and Asahina. The Ultimate Swimmer had asked him if he was falling sick easily, to which he had responded with a shy "yes", only for her to scream at how "weak" and "soft" he was.

"Soft"? Yes.

"Weak"? No.

He wasn't weak. Oh no, he wasn't weak.

How could he be weak when he had took it upon himself for a whole day of investigating, to the point of telling her to be careful about the traffic? Especially when he was hiding something as powerful and energy-draining as the beginning of a pneumonia?

It had been a cold spring until the day that Saturday. Maybe he had caught that bug in sports class. And he went on to hide it, even to his best friend Maizono, just to not make her worry about him.

He really was trusting her.

Even if guilt was making her blood reach boiling point anymore, the girl still felt bad for thinking he had hidden his sickness from her because he was afraid or not trusting of her. She owed him his own health now. That was a difficult debt to repay, sure, but she would try her best

And that started by taking care of him while he was sick.

* * *

Once again had Kyoko fallen asleep without realizing so. The 7AM jingle of the school announcing the Sunday to be a day of free time had woken her up brutally. Dealing with feelings was much more tiring than it sounded… But she didn't feel really tired once the morning had come.

She then noticed a piece of paper on the desk she hadn't seen before. Reading it, she realized it was the nurse's instructions for Naegi. Next to the note was a pile of bottles she had indeed seen before but didn't pay much attention to at first.

"That's…Quite a lot of medicine" she whispered to herself as she looked at what was written.

She really didn't want to wake Naegi up. Getting him to sleep required both painkillers and fever to make him pass out. However, a lot of this medicine required to be taken early in the day, during breakfast.

Coming to that… How was he going to get to the dining hall in such a condition? He could barely hold himself sitting!

The doorbell's ringing brought her such an answer in the person of Sayaka Maizono, who had in her hands the breakfast she was thinking about earlier.

"Hi, Kirigiri!" she said in a happy tone before entering.

"Oh, hello Maizono"

"I thought that since Makoto was bedridden there should be someone bringing you two breakfast! I decided to volunteer!"

She put the tray on the desk. When the idol faced the detective again, her expression had shifted from happiness to worry. Of course she would only wear a smile until the door was closed and nobody else than Kirigiri could see her.

"How is he doing? I've heard from the nurse that his illness had worsened…"

"Well, it's not that it worsened per say, it's that his symptoms showed themselves out of the blue. We thought it was influenza, but it turns out it's a pneumonia he's having"

"Pneumonia?!" screamed Maizono, horror echoing through the bedroom. "That's awful!"

She got closer to Naegi and mostly to his face.

"Did you change the washcloth after I left?"

"Yes, once during the night. I guess it warmed up afterwards."

"It is… I'm going to refresh it."

She then headed straight to the bathroom.

Kyoko, meanwhile, wanted to see if his fever had lowered by any chance before shoving a thermometer in her classmate's mouth. Only then did she notice her hands were still naked. While Maizono was away, she still put a hand on his forehead and then put on her gloves.

Naegi's forehead was less hot than the previous time she felt it, but unsure, she still decided to use the thermometer to know a more exact depiction of his fever.

"How high is it?" asked the idol, coming back from the bathroom.

"It's around 40.3. It's better than yesterday but still high. We can only hope it lowers more during the day."

"You're right…"

Kyoko grabbed a pastry on the tray before sitting on the chair, while her classmate was doing the same on the bed.

"Kirigiri… Did Makoto tell you why he hid that?" she asked, her own idol façade absent.

"He did, yes. I… I never imagined such a thing. He really is good-hearted."

"He is! That's why he's such an amazing friend! But… He overdoes it sometimes… I don't really know why…"

"I think it has to come with his rather low self-esteem."

Maizono blinked.

"Did he tell you about that too?"

"Not really, it's a deduction I made based on what he told me last night. He kept repeating how 'ordinary' he was, how sorry he was for fainting when I trusted him with helping me with the case… I think he took upon himself just because he thinks I deserve his own health more than him. That's really sad, when I think about it."

"He… He did attend one of my concerts when he had the flu two or three years ago… I know it because his sister went to ask me for an autograph for him, saying he had passed out right at the end because he was exhausted… He's such a sweet guy, don't you think, Kirigiri?"

Her eyes were sparkling, both from adoration for him but the reddened sclera gave away that she was tearing up.

"He really is."

A small cough surprised both girls as their friend painfully opened his eyes.

"Sayaka…? Kirigiri…?"

"Oh, Makoto, you're awake! How are you?!"

Yes, high-pitched excitement indeed.

"I… I feel a bit better than yesterday… I think…"

"Thank goodness you do! You made me worry so bad!"

Then Maizono tightly hugged Naegi, surprised the barely-awaked boy.

"Maizono, could you please let him wake up? I know you are very worried for him, but he is still exhausted. Maybe you should also grab one of those masks next to you" interrupted Kyoko, more worried for Naegi's chest pains than about Maizono getting sick.

"Oh, right, sorry Makoto!"

"That… That's okay Sayaka…" he replied, arms wrapped around his chest.

"Wait… Your chest hurts?!"

"Yes, it does. Be careful with that, Maizono."

"I'm so sorry Makoto, I didn't mean to hurt you!"

"Speaking of pain, Naegi, you have to take your medicine. Be ready, because this is going to be quite the tough process."


	6. Feverish Soliloquy

Around yet another spoon of yet another bottle of medicine, Naegi started to show some disgust and tiredness.

"Kirigiri… When does it end…?" he asked, almost whimpering.

"This is the last one. Open your mouth."

While he reluctantly did so, Kyoko was happy to be finished with this. Now she only had to repeat the same process at every lunch and every dinner. Simpler said than done when the patient in question was absolutely not enjoying so.

"What are that medicine for anyway?" asked Maizono, trying to look at a bottle Kyoko was closing.

"There is a painkiller, one or two against fever, one against headaches…"

"There isn't any for his throat?"

It took the detective some thinking to answer her.

"I think this is because cough is the fastest way for the body to remove the cause of the infection. If Naegi was ever to take medicine for his cough, it would make the healing process much slower. Sorry, Naegi, but it looks like you'll have to endure this for a few days."

"I think I get it… Poor Makoto, he can't even not get that easier…"

As if he had reacted to his own first name, the boy turned to her.

"It's okay, Sayaka, don't feel bad for it…"

"You're not hiding anything, right, Makoto?" she suddenly questioned.

"What's the point anymore to do so…?"

Both girls were surprised by a sudden shift of tone. Naegi had always been optimistic, even for someone going through pneumonia at the moment. Seeing him getting sadder so sharply disturbed both of them. Something wasn't okay.

"Makoto, something's wrong? You really seem down all of a sudden…" asked Maizono.

He coughed and spat again in a tissue. Quickly, he tried to throw it into the trashcan but missed it.

"Naegi. You're being suspicious again."

"How's that?"

"He has a bucket next to his bed I put there so he could spit in it. Maizono, could you please carefully give me the tissue that failed on the ground?"

"S-sure, but it's… Gross…"

Doing her best not to look too much at the piece of tissue, Maizono gave it to Kyoko. Upon opening it, she frowned and looked at her classmate again.

"Naegi. When will you learn not to hide something?"

"It's… It's only minor…"

"W-what is it?!" instantly panicked the idol.

Kyoko showed to her the interior of the tissue.

"T-that's… That's horrible!" screamed Maizono, hands in front of her mouth.

"This, Naegi, is important."

"In what…?" he barely answered before coughing and spitting. Despite her initial disgust, Maizono looked inside the bucket only to see a single red splatter in a lake of rust.

"You're coughing up blood! Straight up blood!" continued to scream the idol.

"Actually, I don't think so. It's not liquid enough to be blood. Its quantity just rose. However…"

"You're _wheezing_."

That line made Maizono jump while Naegi's eyes grew wide.

"How… How is that possible?!" she yelled.

"As far as I know, pneumonia occurs when lungs are filling up, causing the patient to have troubles breathing."

He hung his head down.

"I… I really failed on that one…"

"What do you mean by that, Makoto?" briefly said Maizono before her face grew a shade paler.

Before he could reply, he gasped for air and clutched the sheets. He looked dizzy before he took his head into his hands.

"Makoto, are you okay?!"

It came from the detective.

In a reflex, she wanted to feel his forehead. If it induced a headache, it must had been his fever rising. His health was so unstable that it wouldn't had surprised her. She was trying to get him to stop hiding his face, but before she could do that, she felt two arms grasping her waist.

"K-Kyooookooooo…"

She looked down.

There he was, face unveiled, but looking completely out of himself.

Maizono was as surprised as she was.

"W-what is it Naegi?" yelled the detective, completely startled by what was happening.

"You… You're so pretteh Kyoooookooooo…" he mumbled, a large smile on his face.

"I-if you say so…"

Panicked, Kyoko looked at her other classmate.

"What's happening to him?!" wondered the completely baffled idol… Between two laughs.

"I shouldn't be laughing but… But…"

"Indeed you shouldn't be laughing, he totally lost any sense of reason…"

"Kyoookooo…"

She felt his fingers running through her hair. Now, now that was completely weird. Strange cases were less mind-numbing than what was currently happening. Such a loss of reason was creeping her out. How was this even possible?

Feeling defeated by the absolute nonsense that Naegi was at the moment, Kyoko just sat down on the bed, her friend on her lap moving his legs in the air while playing with her side braid.

"Maizono, could you give me the thermometer?" she requested.

"S-sure!"

The idol quickly grabbed the item and gave it to her classmate. The latter then proceeded to put inside his mouth… Well, _tried_ to.

"Get that away from me…! I'm okay I'm telling ya'…!"

"Naegi, stop being an infant. You're probably having a rise in temperature right now."

Instead of listening to her, he just hugged her. If she wasn't red when he wrapped his arms around her waist, she definitely was now.

"Uhm, Kirigiri… I know it's just a theory, but… Maybe Makoto is delirious right now?" asked Maizono, having regained her composure.

"I think so. It's the only explanation we have for why he's behaving so strangely all of a sudden."

"Kyoookoooo…"

He got into a coughing fit, luckily, he didn't spit this time around.

 _"I love you, Kyoookoooo…"_

Time had stopped. The two girls looked at each other as soon as he had uttered the three words. That was an unexpected turn of events to say the least.

Kyoko put one of her hand on her mouth. Even if he was indeed delirious, it was still kind of heart-warming to hear. It had been such a long time she had heard her name associated to those words it completely surprised her.

He probably didn't mean them, sadly.

"I… I…" she stuttered, unable to put a sentence together.

She looked away, probably as red as Naegi was flushed (and he was extremely sick with probably more than forty degrees already of fever).

"I love you too…" she whispered.

Without saying any word, he got up from her lap and lightly kissed her cheek. That delirious boy was really trying his hardest at making her blush, wasn't he? If he was, it was working _perfectly_.

And out of the blue, Naegi's eyes rolled back and he fell unconscious on her. A small smile appeared on her lips as she gently put him back to bed.

But that wasn't before taking his temperature and making sure his washcloth was cool again.

"Maizono?"

"Hum?"

"Could you go to the bathroom for me and wet it again?" she said as she showed her the washcloth.

"Sure!"

A few moments later, Maizono had arrived with the coldest she could still hold in her hands, as the detective could tell by her slightly reddened fingers.

"How is his fever?"

"It's at 40.6, but it's lowering. He had some kind of fever rush I presume."

The detective got up from the bed.

"Maizono, can you keep an eye on him please? I'm going to take my shower."

"Sure…!"

That smile of hers was fake and it showed.


	7. Cupid is a Strange Nurse

Once back from her shower, jacket and tie-less with having made sure she had her mask over her mouth and nose, Kyoko opened to door to a scene she hadn't really expected to see. Well, she should had expected it because of the situation. This kind of scene wasn't impossible for her now…

As soon as she entered, her eyes were met with Maizono sitting next to Naegi's bed on a chair, looking at him with worry-filled eyes, contrasting with his small smile. They didn't seem to notice her, and as if her detective instincts had taken over her, she just decided to be as quiet as possible and watch them from the door.

Maybe she could understand more about both of them by listening to them speak to each other.

"I could have washed my face by myself…"

"It's not fair if Kirigiri's the only one to help you…"

"I know you're trying to help me, Sayaka, but…"

"But what?"

"You shouldn't worry about that so much, it's fine…"

The idol's right hand clutched into a fist.

"Is it because I'm not as good as Kirigiri, hum?"

"Not at all…! I…"

He coughed and, as soon as his cheeks grew larger, Maizono took the bucket from the ground to put it in front of him.

"T-thanks…"

According to that, Kyoko could only guess that she was jealous of her when it came to helping Naegi. She had never thought about some kind of competition between them, and his try at reassuring her on the topic only made it more certain.

"My memory feels fuzzy…"

"Why are you saying that Makoto?"

"I… I feel like I've done something… Completely ridiculous… But I can't remember what…"

"I think I see what you're talking about."

"Could… Could you tell me, then, Sayaka…?"

The fit he was retaining then burst out.

Maizono giggled to herself.

"What's so funny…?" he asked, squinting his eyes as if it would help me guess.

"Well… All of a sudden, you became delirious. Kirigiri wanted to take your temperature to see if your fever had been rising, but you just decided to hug her and play with her hair!"

She was giggling, he was blushing. Blushing so much it was possible to see so on his flushed face.

"R-really?!"

"Yeah! And then… You started to tell her that you loved her!"

Naegi's eyes grew wide as one of his eyes started to twitch. He forced himself to cough, only to trigger a real coughing fit. Maizono was laughing, a candid laugh contrasting with her atrociously fake smile from right before.

"Are you kidding me, Sayaka?!"

"I can't make up such a story Makoto! It really happened! You can ask Kirigiri if you want, but I think she'll try to avoid the topic…"

His face then sported a serious look. It was probably the darkest expression Kyoko had seen him having for the latest forty-eight hours.

"And I failed that too…"

The idol jumped slightly as her eyes blinked rapidly. She looked at her best friend for a few seconds before she could say something again.

"What did you fail…?"

Her own eyes grew wide for a split second.

"That's right… Your…"

"Did she believe it?" he then questioned her, serious in tone and expression.

"I managed to convince her you were just saying random stuff because you were delirious, at least I think so"

"Thank goodness…"

Maizono's glaze pointed to the door.

"…Kirigiri. For how long have you been listening?" she suddenly said right after her stuttering.

"Kirigiri?!" yelled Naegi in response before coughing heavily right after he had yelled.

"Indeed."

Kyoko got out from her spot. It seemed like her classmate had found her when she looked away from her friend as they were speaking about his "declaration".

She was confused. Did he mean it? Did it just slip from his lips? Did he just formulate it wrongly? Had she really been fooled by Maizono's trick games?

"So you've heard everything, huh…?" he asked, looking in her direction.

His head quickly turned away as his blushing had still not disappeared. No, no, it wasn't time to think he was cute either… His hand scratched the back of his head as a small, embarrassed smile made its way to his face.

"I'm… I'm sorry… That must have been so awkward to watch…!"

"Naegi, you aren't to blame, you were, well, delirious. However, Maizono…"

"What is it, Kirigiri?"

"While I appreciate that you're as helping as you can be to Naegi, I can't say the same about how you tried to fool me."

She tried to hide her own embarrassment.

"Especially when you know what I replied back."

The boy instantly turned to the idol, who was looking at the ground.

"Maizono. Explain yourself."

"I… I tried to cover up for Makoto."

She really didn't intend on letting the deception pass, especially with such a reply. A fake answer.

"As in? You're not fooling me _again_ , aren't you, Maizono?"

"No, you're mistaken, Kirig-"

"She did… She did, Kirigiri."

Naegi looked at the sleuth, eyes determined despite the betrayed fatigue on his face. She couldn't distinguish the blush from his flushness anymore.

"She… She tried to cover up the fact that… That…"

He got even redder than before (Kyoko was starting to doubt if that was even possible) and started to laugh again.

"It… It's so awkward that you got to know it like that…"

Naegi's hand went to his left side, slightly clutching it. Maizono's eyes flickered to him, focused on the fingers.

"So you really did think what you were telling me…"

"I did, and I still do…!"

His wheezing, which she had almost gotten accustomed to, got stronger.

"Makoto…?"

"I… I… I…"

Both his hands were now clutching his chest, fingers digging into his shirt if not into his skin. There was definitely and absolutely something wrong with him and he couldn't hide it anymore. Even his own body was against him hiding stuff from them.

"Makoto, what's wrong?!" yelled Maizono, eyes wide and fully full of worry.

"No… Nothing…"

Kyoko had seen it coming. His breathing was shallower and shallower with seconds passing, it was obvious it would come to such a brutal end.

She just wished it wouldn't worry her, but as it was standing out, she was worried beyond her usual dose. She… Loved him too much to ignore his suffering. Once again, a witness doing such a thing would leave her almost unfazed, but now that was a whole other thing she was dealing with.

"Maizono, if I'm correct, I would say it's 'just' him overusing his voice and breath. I think he'll be fine, but for now…"

"Doesn't it worry you that much, Kirigiri?! And I thought you had meant it when you told him you loved him!"

"W-what?! I-it's not what you th-think M-Maizono!"

"You lied?! I can't believe you lied to him when he was in such distress! You're disgusting!"

Kyoko was in such a panic her speech was a total mess. Out of her usual calm, she started herself to get rapid, shallow breathing.

"Maizono it's… It's… It's not what you think…"

"Then what is it, huh?!"

"I… I was about to say we couldn't do much for now, except calling in the nurse to help us…"

The idol stopped and her anger vanished, only to make way to a much calmer feeling. She put her hand in front of her mouth.

"I… I'm sorry Kirigiri… I overreacted…"

"I understand where you were coming from. I'll go get the nurse. Stay here and watch over Naegi…"

She was the most stupid detective mankind had ever known now.

Her façade was so effective Maizono had thought she was a filthy liar playing with people's feelings.

Naegi's feelings nonetheless.

When she left, she quickly got a glimpse of him.

Despite how bad his condition was, he was smiling to her.

So he did know she was telling the truth.

When she left, Kyoko was _smiling_.


	8. Cogito Ergo (Amantis) Sum

In the dining hall were Kyoko and Maizono, sitting at a table. It was a consensus: they had agreed with the nurse to not go inside Naegi's bedroom for a bit to let him rest for a bit. It was understandable from her perspective: he had been the centre of interest of a stupid love theatre play when he was still very weak.

Actually, wasn't he _weaker_ , when she was thinking about it? His last smile had been such a forced one, it was almost heart-breaking.

But nowhere near as heart-breaking as seeing him suffer his way through pneumonia was.

"Kirigiri…?" a shy voice asked her.

"What is it, Maizono?"

"Can… Can I ask you about something?"

"You can."

Maizono intertwined her fingers nervously.

"You… You really love him, right…?"

Kyoko wasn't surprised by her question. The idol seemed really insecure when it came to her best friend and the detective's ongoing… Feelings.

Not being surprised didn't mean she knew how to answer. She didn't even know why she had answered "I love you too" to Naegi when he was in his feverish delirium. Probably because she thought it would make him happy to hear that.

She knew she cared deeply about him, at least far more than for Maizono or anyone in this class really, if not more than what was left of her friends and family outside of Hope's Peak. That was where her certainties stopped.

"…"

"You… You would make an adorable couple"

Now that surprised her. She wasn't expecting a supporting message from Maizono. Actually, scratch that: maybe she was faking it. But why would she fake it when they were all alone, when Naegi wasn't there? She could yell at her as much as she wanted without her image being tarnished for him.

This didn't make sense.

"Are you being honest here, Maizono?"

"I am. I'm the only one he told about his crush on you… Well, the first one at least"

"Aren't you, jealous or something in the like?"

"No, not at all… I just want him to be happy. I have my band, he has you. Everything is fine, Kirigiri. I… I was just scared."

Even if Kyoko was still a bit wary when it came to her blue-haired classmate's honesty, something in her attitude and voice, from her nervous finger muddling to her face, somehow told her she was trustable for the time being. She decided to follow her instincts.

"What were you scared of?"

"I was scared that he would only focus on you, and forget about me, especially when I'm busy with the girls sometimes… That's why I was so… So horrible to you…"

"Oh so you thought he may abandon you for me. I think this is highly unlikely of Naegi."

"I know, right? I don't even know why I was thinking that. It was… I can't even find a word to describe it. It's just not right to suspect something like that from your best friend, you know?"

Kyoko was still curious about something. An element that was a source of… Envy? Jealousy?

"You faked a smile earlier today, didn't you?"

Blue eyes closed and the girl let out a little sight, accompanied by a seemingly genuine small smile.

"You… You noticed it then."

"Indeed. Could you tell me why?"

"Makoto wouldn't like me to lie to you anyway, so… It's because I didn't want to worry him… He's going through such a bad time lately, and he told me a few times before that he loved my smile so… I just smile for him. He doesn't really like it when I fake it, but I figured out it would give him some strength. It's all I can do anyway…"

The detective looked down. It seemed she had honestly good intentions. He really was lucky to be able to trust someone like her, when even Kyoko herself was doubting her most of the time.

"I see. It's very kind of you, Maizono, but I think after how we scolded him for hiding things from us, we should both show our true colours, don't you think?"

"I agree… I'll not hide anything in front of him or you anymore, Kirigiri. I think I can trust you, since you've cared so much about him…"

Maizono looked at her watch before her eyes grew wide.

"Oh, I have my training session very soon! Kirigiri, can you watch over Makoto while I'm with the girls?"

"Of course."

"Thank you very much!"

The idol then ran off to her bedroom, only feet away from the dining hall they were alone in to discuss.

* * *

When Kyoko was allowed to enter in his room (which was actually a few minutes after Maizono had left the school for her session), she was greeted by an asleep Naegi. He did seem peaceful when he was asleep, really. It was contrasting with the wheezing panic from barely thirty minutes before, that was for sure.

It was around two in the afternoon. She could only guess that the nurse took care of his medication better than they had handled it in the morning. She quietly took the chair and sat on it.

While he was pretty cute, watching Naegi sleeping wasn't really very interesting of an activity. She didn't exactly know how long he would be asleep for. She hoped it would finally last for more than one or two hours, after all, he did need sleep.

Hopefully he wouldn't have a nightmare again…

Kyoko grabbed the novel she had left on the bedside table (she had forgotten about it last time) and took back from where she had left off her story. It was… Duller than she had remembered. As if what had happened made the story so hollow and boring. A mystery novel was far less exciting than whatever had happened recently.

Disappointed, she closed and put the book away once again. A sight escaped her lips as she took off a glove to get the temperature of the washcloth. When the icy feeling got to her fingers, the detective quickly dried her hand and put her glove back again.

Everything seemed so alright and peaceful that it was almost too weird to be real. Maybe it was all a dream.

Kyoko looked at the bedridden boy. She felt a slight smile drawing itself onto her lips as she leaned back. The situation was perfect. Her mind was in state of peace she had almost forgotten about with the two cases she had been investigating upon.

Knowing Maizono wasn't playing some act in front of them was strangely relaxing. This annoying, weak yet growing stronger heartache had disappeared. She put her mask back on. The idol did look more like a clingy little sister than a rival.

Wait, a _rival_? A rival _in what_?

Maizono and she had different skills, abilities and personalities. While the former was a talented pop idol and singer, with a legion of fans and dedicated to her band, Kyoko was a detective. A born detective. Her skills were in investigating and coming up with the closest-to-the-truth deductions. Maizono's job was to make people happy with singing, her job was to uncover culprits and clear the image of the innocent before trials were taking place.

They had _nothing_ in common.

No, they indeed had something in common.

Something she hadn't really realized until this strange case had begun.

Something, or rather someone, who forced them to interact with each other.

 _Makoto Naegi_.

Yes, Sayaka Maizono was more than his best friend to her.

She was her rival. Her rival in a feeling she never wanted to feel again or ever.

Love.

Her ears were burning. She was now as red as he was flushed by fever, she was sure of it. Even the most intriguing of thriller novels wouldn't get her mind off that. This feeling was… Utterly embarrassing.

It was awkward, unnecessary, useless, a cluster of pain and emotions, gross, waste, trash, garbage. Barely fitting the trashcan filled with rust-coloured and bloodied tissues.

She couldn't. It was… It was… It was… It was unfitting with her career… It was a waste of thoughts… It was… It was… It was…

It was real.

She couldn't brush it off anymore.

She was _in love_ with _him_ and it was _undeniable_.

"Ki… Kirigiri…?"

A small, hoarse voice came to her ears.

No, this couldn't be.

She had been rambling, openly speaking to herself during all this time.

He had heard _everything_ she had whispered.

She wasn't ready to confront him about that, she wasn't even ready to confront _herself_!

"D-did you hear everything I said, Naegi?!" she panicked.

"Kinda…"

This really was embarrassing.

"Why are so red…?"

"I-if you heard what I was saying you must know…"

"I didn't get everything… My head's fuzzy…"

He was coughing and his breath was still hectic. She should had known he would be in a state where her mumbles weren't very clear to him.

"Thank goodness you didn't understand everything."

He sheepishly smiled.

"That doesn't mean I can't get why now…"

Kyoko felt a sudden wave of uncomfortableness take over her.

"D-don't tell me you… You…"

"If I wasn't sick maybe I would have hugged you…"

"You already did…"

He blinked and got up suddenly, only to grasp his chest.

"Don't move so fast when you're that ill!"

"W-when did I hug you?!"

"When you were delirious."

Naegi scratched the back of his head.

"Ah… Uh…"

Kyoko folded her arms against her chest, smirking.

"It's a relief you don't remember that, it would have been awkward to explain why I responded to you that"

"That you loved me."

"How do you remember that?!" the lavender-haired girl screamed, internally panicking.

"S-Sayaka mentioned it earlier… But it's really obvious now that I heard you mumbling it to yourself…"

"Fever isn't strong enough to make your deduction abilities fail I suppose…"

He laughed lightly before coughing again.

"At least we're on the same page…"

"Stop mentioning it. It's embarrassing at it is."

"You're adorable when you're like that, you know…?"

"S-stop it Naegi!"

"What's wrong…?"

"I said stop it!"

"Ok, ok…" he replied as he looked away.

No, he wasn't delirious. His eyes were more focused than when he was. It didn't seem like he was teasing her on purpose though: he did seem uncomfortable with her being uncomfortable. Everything was so weird at this point anyway, she didn't even know what could happen.

"You know, Kirigiri… You shouldn't be embarrassed about that…"

"Take care of your own health before you start worrying about me. You're the one who's sick, not me."

A short silence followed.

"Did I wake you up?"

"No, I was… Just sleepy you know…"

"I'll let you rest then, see you later."

She was getting up when his hand grabbed her arm.

"No, stay with me… Who knows when I'll get a nightmare again…"

She couldn't help but smile and sit down.

"If you want me to, I guess I can't decline."

A grin (the smallest grin because he was still weak but a grin nonetheless) appeared on his face as soon as she answered positively.

This boy would be the death of her.


	9. This Ailment is But a Blush

n Monday, it had been some kind of routine. Even if it couldn't really be qualified as a "routine", as it hadn't had the time to fully set itself as one in such a short span of time, it did feel like one. As if Kyoko and Maizono had done that for days if not weeks before.

The school day were long. Classes were occasions to wonder about how he was doing. To ask herself if he was going to be okay. It was… Uncomfortable to say the least. She usually had much less trouble focusing on what was happening in the lesson.

Her worries were softening since that fateful Saturday. Naegi was indeed regaining some of his composure and his face was getting back some colour. He was still feverish but the dwindling number of medicine bottles on his desk was a good sign. The situation was getting so, so much better.

Even Maizono, whose internal worries were creeping behind her mask, had been noticeably more relaxed. It was almost unbelievable to think she had spent her Sunday next to his bed, wheezing and coughing up bloodied sputum, drenched in sweat and about to relapse into nonsensical vivid nightmares anytime he would pass out.

Everything was going so well.

Kyoko was still watching over him once class was over. His company was more than enjoyable, and seeing him get better was heart-warming. He also had some… Other issues to solve.

"Kirigiri, what have you done in class today?"

"Naegi, I don't think you should worry about that for the moment."

"I don't want to get too behind you and the others…"

"I suppose I can summarize briefly what we did today if you really want to know. But I'll not explain everything in details, you're still too sick to go back into that."

After a summary of a few classes, the discussion fatally reverted back to the topic they had talked the most about for the past few days: his health.

"Are you feeling better than yesterday?"

"Absolutely…! I don't spit red anymore…!"

He was still coughing but his breathing had improved. But not that much, sadly…

"Kirigiri…? Is something wrong…?"

She slightly jumped from her chair. Her façade was pointless if she couldn't keep it up from him. What a sad story of a melted ice queen mask.

"Just ignore it…"

"Don't hide it from me… Please…"

She took a deep breath and looked at him right in the eyes.

"I'm still worried about you. Your condition did improve but you're still weak. You should rest instead of insisting to speak with me. I see your eyes closing by themselves…"

"B-but I really enjoy your company…! I don't know, it just… Makes me feel better when you're here…"

He retained a cough.

"Really?"

"Yeah…! Today was so… Boring…"

It exploded.

"Naegi, how many times did I tell you not to retain urges to cough?!"

"S-sorry…"

"I don't care if you can't speak straight. Don't hold back. It's bad for you and you know it. Take care of yourself. I prefer you to be silent than tiring your voice."

He silently looked at her before nodding. Maybe this time around he would learn…

* * *

For the first night in three days, Kyoko had slept in her own bedroom. It was almost weird to sleep in her own bed, in her own room again. The lack of sound, a total silence, had worried her more than anything: maybe she was so used to Naegi's wheezy breathing not hearing it anymore would mean he had stopped breathing.

Those sound-proof bedrooms were more annoying than she had thought until then.

In the dining hall, it was the same than usual: Fukawa literally drooling over Togami, who would look at everyone in disdain. Owata and Ishimaru bonding over yet another cryptic topic. Asahina and Ogami chatting about sports. Yamada trying to impress Ludenberg with yet another cup of royal milk tea. Ikusaba being as quiet as ever while her twin sister would try to speak to everyone else than her.

"Good morning Kirigiri!"

Maizono glanced at her detective classmate, a large smile on her face. This idol had never talked to her directly in the morning…

"Oh, hello Maizono."

"How are you?"

"I'm just fine. And you?"

"I'm feeling pretty good! Oh, huh… Have you checked on Makoto?"

"I didn't. I wanted to do so before class but after breakfast."

"Then I'll check on him my-"

"You don't have to…"

Maizono briefly turned around from her to face the door of the dining hall. She let out a small squeak when a familiar boy entered the dining hall, a mask over his mouth and nose.

"M-Makoto!"

She ran to him, a wide grin on her face.

Before Kyoko could make any comment on the situation, a classmate of hers dressed in a pristine white uniform ran to him.

"Naegi! You are not wearing your uniform! Explain yourself!" yelled Ishimaru.

Indeed, he was only wearing his half-zipped hoodie.

"Ah, huh…" he barely responded as he lightly coughed in his mask.

"Ishimaru! Leave him alone, he's sick!" scolded Maizono, her fists closed.

Laughter followed. Kyoko, keeping up her emotionless façade, internally put her palm to her face. The situation was beyond ridiculous.

"Oh, that's why, he was sick" calmly stated Togami, as if he had just learnt about the weather.

"What, you didn't know?" shrugged Asahina. "Maizono must have repeated it hundreds of times yesterday."

The detective got closer to her three classmates.

"Maizono is right, Ishimaru, he is still sick and I'm not sure uniform conditions are that necessary."

"B-but this lack of uniform is not welcome in a school environment!"

"Maybe. Naegi, you should go back to you room before you get dragged in class."

"Skipping classes is forbidden by this school's regulations!"

"Ishimaru! He is _sick_!" insisted the idol.

"If it's not too important, Naegi can attend class!"

Silence.

Kyoko and Maizono looked at each other, awkwardness in the latter's glaze.

"Well, the main issue is that…" she whispered.

"What issue?! Explain yourself!"

"Naegi has pneumonia. The nurse forbade him to attend class for the next few days."

"Wait… Since _when_ am I forbidden from going to class for that long?!"

Another embarrassed silence followed. What a nonsensical situation.

"Wait, you didn't know that Makoto?!"

"N-no…!"

"The nurse didn't think he was going to bring himself to the dining hall that early I suppose."

Kyoko took the advantage of the messy situation, interrupted by the ring indicating the first class of the day was soon starting. She grabbed is slim wrist and got them both out of the dining hall and into the dormitory before their classmates could catch up to them.

"W-what are you doing Kiri…?!"

"I'm taking you out of here before Ishimaru drags you into class anyway."

She only stopped when they were inside his room and after she locked the door. He was panting, gasping for air and occasionally coughing in his mask. Running in the hallways in his condition was a bad idea, sure, but it seemed less of a bad idea when compared to him being dragged into class to her.

"Are you okay, Naegi?"

"I… I'll… I'll be…"

"Try not to go out of your room during the day, I don't want you to attend class when you're still sick."

After a few seconds of sole panting, he looked directly at her as took off his mask.

"And how is it any different than when you were in class sick?"

"I had a little cold, Naegi. You are still ill with pneumonia. Our conditions aren't the same."

"My current condition is almost the same as a cold! I can go to class!"

"Why do you want to attend class so badly? I thought you weren't so much into school."

He paused, coughed into his hand and put his mask back on.

"Because I don't want to stay behind when everyone is in class. If I go to class, Sayaka will stop worrying about me…"

She went to the door.

"Kirigiri, why do you insist so much on me staying here?"

She stole the key left on the doorknob before throwing it at him.

"Naegi, this is for you I'm doing this. You'll probably going to help everyone around and exhaust yourself. You can allow yourself a few days off to recover. Rest and we'll see that later. I'll see with Maizono if she can bring you your lunch."

She faintly smiled at him.

"Take care."


	10. Cioconis Morbi Bella

This Wednesday's topic in History was the second Punic War. It wasn't the worst topic Kyoko had studied in this class, sure, but it was still flowing more slowly than usual. Wars weren't as fascinating as the never-resolved case of Jack the Ripper, and this one was no exception.

Sometimes, the teacher would ask the class about something. It would often fall upon someone who wasn't paying much attention: Kuwata dozing off, Yamada drawing on his copybook, Enoshima texting here and there on her phone… It wasn't out of the ordinary.

However, an awkward moment would happen every time they would switch teachers. This time around was probably the most embarrassing one of those.

"Today, we have our presentation on Hannibal, as we had planned when starting this lesson. Naegi, can you come forward with your work?"

A heavy silence fell upon the class as the teacher, still facing the blackness of the board.

"Naegi?"

She finally turned over to the class and looked at a chair near the corridor-facing wall. An empty chair.

"Wait, Naegi is missing?"

The rest of the class looked at each other, faces filled with awkwardness. Of course she couldn't know that, students missing class were so rare.

"He… He is…" barely answered Maizono.

"Do any of you happen to know what is wrong with him then?"

All their classmates looked at Maizono and Kyoko with almost desperate eyes. They hadn't bothered explaining much the day before, and most of them hadn't even heard what they had told Ishimaru about.

The idol looked at her with twisted features. She probably wanted someone with a calm, collected, and barely disrupted voice to tell their teacher about everything.

"Mistress, if I may answer your question, Naegi is currently bedridden."

"Bedridden my ass…" some cowardly voice whispered.

"B-but he was in the dining hall yesterday morning! He should be in class with us right now, as he should have been yesterday too!" screamed Ishimaru.

Oh, not him again.

"H-he's r-right, N-Naegi was here w-with us y-yesterday…" added Fukawa.

"Yeah, and then you took him away, Kirigiri! You think you're the nurse or something?" shouted Asahina.

They were starting to wear off on her patience. This group of idiots hadn't noticed anything hadn't they?

"What exactly is this Kirigiri?" finally asked the teacher, calming the assembly.

The whole class was now looking at the sleuth, eyes glaring. The silence was as sudden as it was weighting her down.

"Yeah, Kirigiri, you never really told us what it was, neither did Maizono" added someone else.

There was no way she was escaping the topic.

"Naegi has had pneumonia since Saturday. That's it."

"That's it?!" screamed some of her classmates.

…It was sad she was almost used to stating this without flinching. As if it was normal.

The teacher seemed almost disturbed by her statement.

"Then, I'll guess we'll have to start on this part without his presentation."

Kyoko could only hope he stayed in this goddamn bed for once. It would be way too comical if he was to knock on the door right at this moment only to make his presentation. Then it struck her.

…So that's _why_ he was asking her about what they had done in class.

A gentle knock.

Maizono looking at her.

It was happening again wasn't it?

He would _never_ learn.

* * *

"You may enter."

"E-excuse me to be late…"

Kyoko's shoulders dropped.

If only she had been wrong.

"Naegi?!" screamed everybody. What a lack of surprise.

A mask on his face, dressed in his uniform with a dishevelled tie stood her classmate. He was going way too far. He entered the room in a slow pace.

"Naegi, are you sure you're doing well enough to join us?"

"It's my presentation today, I have to!"

He coughed again. That would be an unbearable show if it was to happen.

"Kirigiri just stated you had a good reason not to go to class. Are you sure you want to do it today? We can postpone it."

"Y-yes!" And there he was coughing again. "I can do this, I promise!"

"I would like you to go to the nurse's office before then. I can't allow you to enter the class without her consent."

And now his eyes were just screaming with the idea itself it was out of the question for him.

"O-of course...!"

Naegi was leaving the classroom, slower than ever, when the teacher interrupted him again.

"I would prefer someone to accompany you. Kirigiri, can you do so?"

"I can."

The detective got up from her seat and went to the door, next to her classmate.

"I'll come back as soon as possible."

* * *

As soon as they were out of the classroom, Kyoko grabbed his arm and pulled him closer to her.

"Naegi, how many times do I have to tell you you're forbidden from going to class?"

"But it's important today! I'll be fine!"

"Your voice is still hoarse you know."

"It will not last long enough for me to…"

"To lose your voice, maybe. You're still overdoing it and I can't allow that. I'm bringing you to the nurse's office."

"I'm fine I swear!"

Without a word, she put her hand on his forehead.

"You're still feverish Naegi. Did you take your temperature in the morning?"

"It's around thirty-nine degrees…"

"That's what I thought, you're still shivering. Let's go to the nurse's office, you're in no condition for this presentation…"

Her voice was so soft all of a sudden, even herself found it weird.

His own face, as flushed as it was, lost some of its hardened-by-a-headache features. It would only take a few seconds before he would get dizzy and almost fall, only getting himself up by using his arm leaning on the wall as a crutch. She couldn't help but hold him.

"I'm definitely bringing you to the nurse's office."

As she was bringing him downstairs as his support, Kyoko could only notice how fragile her friend felt. His breathing was still congested and harsh, only half hidden by his mask. He winced as soon as her hand touched his ribs area to support him.

"Naegi, does your chest still hurt?"

"Y-yeah… Less than before but it's still so sore…"

"You took the painkillers the nurse had ordered you to take, right?"

"I did, but…"

"This is why you don't overdo it, Naegi. This medicine will not heal the pain right away, you know."

They continued their route in silence apart for him coughing from time to time. Once they were in front of the office, Kyoko could only think about how relieved she felt about having arrived there. He had to be checked on as soon as possible, and the nurse had more power to make him stay in his room than she ever could have.

"Kiri… Just get me to my room… Please…" he murmured under his breath.

"It's out of question."

"I… I feel like… I… I'm about to pass out… Please…"

He did look really dizzy, as if he was indeed about to fall asleep.

"The nurse's office is just in front of us, please hang on…"

She knocked at the door and immediately entered. What was the importance of manners in such a context?

"Kirigiri, could you have knocked… Oh my."

"Take care of him, please. I need to go back to class."

She hastily put him on the closest bed to the door and rushed out to the second floor.

* * *

After class had ended, Kyoko decided it was only fair to check up on him at the nurse's office. It was also a question of how unwell he had looked when she had deposited him there. Worries here, worries there, when was she supposed to think about something else with so much running in the background?

She was relieved Maizono had a concert on this evening and couldn't come with her. The last thing he needed was her lack of self-control with her worries. It was cruel to think such a thing, but she was doing it for Naegi.

Yes, all this mess was for Naegi. Every bit of it.

"Hello Mistress, may I…"

"Kirigiri, I can't say I wasn't expecting you to pay him a visit…"

She moved to Naegi, who was fast asleep in one of the infirmary's bed. Her face turned around to see the nurse.

"How is he?"

"He was indeed about to pass out when you brought him earlier… He was exhausted, I think he still is. He's pushed himself too far lately."

"That's what I thought."

She put a chair next to his bed.

"Did his condition improve even by a bit?"

"His fever went down considerably. A part of it may had been caused by his tendency to not obey my instructions much…"

"How high is it approximatively?"

"I would say 38.7."

She sighed, getting far less tense.

"I see."

After a few silent minutes, she finally asked what was burning her lips.

"Can I take him back to his room now?"

"You may. Do you need any help?"

"No, it's okay, I'll deal with it myself."

With a few swift and precise movements, the sleeping boy was now in her arms, snoring.

Kyoko faintly smiled as she left the room, telling the medical staff woman goodbye.

"I'll prepare you a little something."


	11. You're Not Worthless

The sun was sinking into the ground as Kyoko was finishing the novel she had started before the case unfolded. Once again, she had guessed who the culprit was. When would she be surprised to learn whodunit? It seemed as if there needed to be another Ultimate Detective to write the perfect crime novel she would truly enjoy.

In any case, her reading session would end soon as someone in particular was waking up.

"Welcome back."

"That's you, Kiri…"

"Who else? Maizono is at a concert, you should know that, don't you?"

His state of awakening went from just getting out of a thousand-year slumber to full energy.

"Sayaka's concert! I had to attend it!"

He started to get up from his bed until he fell down, coughing heavily and arms wrapped around his torso. She glared at him.

"Naegi, you stay in that bed."

"B-but… She… I…"

"Naegi, you stay quiet."

His breathing went haywire as she could hear him severely wheezing again. She hadn't missed such a horrible sound. He got up from the bed again.

Kyoko suddenly got up, pressed her hands against his frail shoulders and put him back to bed, this time shoving him inside the sheets.

"You're. Not. Getting. Up."

She couldn't contain her frustration anymore. He was still coughing heavily.

"Ki… Ki…"

"Shut up."

His eyes blinked uncontrollably for a few seconds. His cough was finally calming down as he took deep breaths.

"Don't talk. Don't get out from this bed. Stop wearing yourself out."

"But… This was so important… For Sayaka…"

"Do you think she would like you to pass out during a concert?"

"Now that you… Say that… I don't think so…"

"Maizono just wants you to get better, and so do I. Stop doing that."

Naegi went completely silent and looked away.

"You obviously know this is making you get worse."

"But it shows that… I have some… Strength…"

The detective sighed. This was way too cheesy to be happening.

"Naegi, how many times did I tell you so? You're heavily weakened at the moment and all you need is some medicine and plenty of rest. You're starting to tire Maizono and me out, we have to be constantly watching your every moves…"

He stayed quiet and looked away.

"If you're not doing it for you, do it for us, please. Nobody here wants to see you collapse. Even if you think of yourself as average, worthless of anyone's attention, you deserve to get better and live as well as everyone else here."

"Stop hurting yourself, Makoto."

"…Makoto…?"

Kyoko then realized her slipup.

"I-I meant N-Naegi, of course…!"

He softly giggled and slightly winced.

"I really don't mind, Kirigiri…"

She felt herself smile, yet blushing and looking away slightly embarrassed at the same time.

"I guess you can call me Kyoko too…"

* * *

They had spent their evening watching Maizono's concert on the TV of the bedroom, luckily fixed on the wall facing the bed. Despite not being fond of idols, she had found the experience to be quite enjoyable when she was with Makoto grinning each time his best friend appeared on the screen. He was even encouraging her from behind the cold plastic surface.

He had eventually fallen asleep without realizing it, lulled by advertisements around half past ten in the evening. Kyoko was ready to call it a day and come back to her room to get some sleep herself before realizing he was clutching her arm.

It would have been quite cruel to just break his embrace and go to her room. Instead, she decided to prop herself onto her chair as well as she could and sleep there. Everything was better when he was around anyway. The nights before had felt so lonely…

She yawned. She wasn't lying when she was telling him he was tiring Maizono and her out… Well, Maizono had gotten a bit more rest than she did as the detective was the one to watch him over during the night if watching there was. She couldn't really blame a passionate but busy idol, could she?

Kyoko was used to staying up at night, even pulling all-nighters from time to time anyway. Watching over Makoto wasn't much of a problem. She even felt more reassured and peaceful when she was there, able to act if necessary. She was glad she had been there to soothe him from his nightmares.

She would often pay attention to his breathing. It was the thing that would have given him away on that fateful Saturday had she been paying attention. His flushed face would give him away too, but for the same reasons, it didn't.

It was also because his breathing was a good indicator of how his lungs were recovering. The clearer and easier his breathing was, the better he was. It was a rather quick process, she had seen far worse cases that had sometimes lead to death…

She thought she had seen Thanatos floating around him more than once. Maybe it was because of how similar it was to how her own mother had died… She was way over that death, but the mere thought of Makoto dying was more than despairing. At least, it seemed he had survived that forsaken illness more than her mother did.

At least, she could only guess it was pneumonia. They hadn't really made it clear back when she was a half-orphan child.

She had sworn to herself such a disaster wouldn't happen to him as soon as she was there, able to help and ready to shove him back into his sheets if necessary. She was temporarily trusting Maizono just for this duty.

She would repay her debt to him until he was back to his normal self and in a stable condition, no matter how long and what it would take.

Before long, her vision blurred out and her thoughts just… Stopped flowing. Everything slowly faded to black. It was such a nice feeling…

* * *

When she woke up, she noticed surprised she was in her own bed instead of a chair. The realization was instant: she recognized another smell than the one from Makoto's bedroom in which she was last conscious. What was she doing here? And how? She had never sleepwalked before. Why would she do so all of a sudden?

There was nobody around. The clock displayed 7AM, maybe it had been accompanied by the usual jingle, she wasn't sure she had heard it. Anyway, she was up right for breakfast time. She only had to prepare herself and-

"Oh, Kyoko, you're awake!"

She almost jumped as soon as she saw a familiar boy, still with a mask on, a cup of coffee in his hands.

"N-Naegi?!" she bolted out, now clearly and fully awake.

He just gently smiled at her and handed her the cup of coffee.

"What are you… What are _we_ doing in my room?" she asked, insistent. What was this nonsense?

He laughed to himself and coughed lightly.

"Well, you fell asleep in my room, and you were still so when I woke up so… I decided to bring you to your own room!"

"But why? I've always been fine with sleeping on this chair."

"You can't always be the one to do that, no?"

"If you think so, I can't argue much… You're a stubborn one after all."

He just giggled, an embarrassed look on his face.

"I didn't ask you yet, how are you today?"

"I'm fine Na… Makoto I mean."

She drank the coffee cup.

"By the way, what is up with the coffee cup?"

"Oh, uh… I think you said you would 'prepare me something' yesterday afternoon."

She blushed.

"W-wait… You heard that? You weren't asleep?"

"I was semi-asleep. Anyway, I decided it was time for me to pay you back and I've made you coffee!"

"You didn't have to do that…"

"Why wouldn't I?"

The door started to bang. Ideal for him to switch subjects.

"It's time for breakfast, you come with me, Kyoko?"

"Sure."


	12. Case Closed

"I can finally attend class!" screamed a joy-filled Makoto as the nurse finished to examine him.

It had happened a week ago already. As soon as he had started to get better, the time's flow got increasingly faster. And now he was finally back to health, a smile on his face and on Maizono's one as well.

Yes, everything seemed to be back to normal. _Seemed._

He yawned as he put back on his mask.

"You still look really tired, Makoto…" commented Maizono, in a low voice.

"Indeed. You're still quite pale."

"I'm not _that_ tired, you know! I'm sure I can attend class. We're gonna be late anyway!"

The two girls looked at each other, an awkward look shared between them.

"Makoto, today is a Sunday…"

He slightly jumped and giggled, embarrassed.

"It is?!"

A slight cough woke up an unwanted feeling.

"You're still weakened, aren't you?"

The nurse, who had been writing down since she had finished his diagnosis, got closer to the discussion.

"He indeed is, Kirigiri."

"Does that mean that…?"

"Yes, you're still forbidden from attending class to let you recover."

His tired yet cheerful expression suddenly turned all the way around.

"F-for how long…?"

"It depends on how fast you recover. I can however say it is going to be for at least three or four days."

There was despair in his voice.

"B-but…"

A coughing fit caught him off guard, making Maizono back down in what seemed to be fear. Kyoko herself had been surprised.

"Why does he still cough if he's healed?!" the idol loudly asked to the nurse, more panicked than anything.

"It is bound to happen if he uses his voice so much when he is still in the early stage of recovery. His respiratory system is still very weak."

He gently put a hand around his chest.

"Makoto, let's go back to your room for now. You still need to rest."

He could only weakly nod as they left the nurse's office, Maizono tagging along with a worry she was used to see on her face.

* * *

The following days were boring. Except for the first breakfast (in a long time) he shared with the class (with Ishimaru still trying to bring him to the classroom), nothing was really going on. Classes were ordinary, classmates were as usual. It seemed as if everything would go all right once again. Which was pretty good except for one little thing.

As such, Kyoko didn't really have much to write in her diary. One she had specially prepared for the Kizuisen case and others of the kind in case she ever blocked on tracks one day. Well, now, it was… Not such a thing anymore.

Instead, her notebook was filled with notes about what had happened since the fateful Saturday. While he was sleeping, or that she was away, or even in class sometimes, she would write what would happen. She was still doing so, now that life was boring. It was just a reminder of how time was slow when he wasn't there with her in class…

She read again the first page of this one notebook: "To give to Naegi". It felt like she had written this sentence so long ago… Kyoko knew it had only been two weeks they were on a first-name basis or so, but everything had happened so fast, it felt like it had been at least months ago. Seeing her own handwriting refer to Makoto as "Naegi" really was striking her eyes.

Moreover, she wasn't sure if she would actually give him the notebook. He had asked for it to know what had happened during his half-conscious phases his blurry memories couldn't remember, but it had become way too personal for such a use anymore. From the small hearts she had absentmindedly drawn on the pages when she was thinking about him to clear transcripts of her thoughts, this was meant to be kept to herself.

Kyoko had heard back from the Kizuisen case recently. They had won the trial. Even if she hadn't been able to go through with her investigation, she was relieved everything went all right, actually. Maybe sometimes it was better if there were no mysteries to solve nor situations to fix.

She had another situation to take care of meanwhile, and the latter was about to finally get resolved too. But first, she had to settle one last thing before the fever-induced case ended.

* * *

 _"I love you, Makoto."_

It was unbelievable that she had pronounced those words herself, sitting at a table in a café during their afternoon alone together. She didn't have a smile on her face. Determination filled her eyes and blood. She was probably not even blushing.

Okay, Kyoko was actually at her reddest possible. Every single blood vessel in her face activated and her heart was about to break her ribcage.

Makoto looked away, rubbing his right arm with his left one. He let out a giggle and sipped in his soda. His face finally broke in for happiness as a wide grin appeared on his mouth. He then rushed to the other side of the table, surprising Kyoko in a tight hug.

"I love you so much Kyoko!"

She was so close, she could hear rapid heartbeats from another chest. She would have minded one week ago how quick they were, but now that the cause wasn't an illness, she was happier than ever. For the first time in like felt forever, Kyoko was hugging back someone as tightly as she could. If this boy would be the death of her, she would die happy.

The detective broke into a smile, definitely leaving behind her the ice queen persona she had until all this mess had unfolded. Hearing each other's heartbeats was strangely both exciting and relaxing. He was alive, sound and safe, completely healed up in her arms.

The sickness had been defeated once and for all. He would be back in class to be the student who always has the misfortune of getting picked for any single occasion someone could get picked for, prepared presentation or just trivia questions alike.

"Will you date me, Kyoko?" he asked in a cheerful voice she had missed so, so much.

"Of course I will, Makoto" she replied trying to contain her excitement.

Slightly pulling apart, they looked into each other's eyes.

"You know… I really prefer seeing you relieved than taking care of me… But thank you for everything you did for me when I was sick, Kyoko. It made it so much easier for me, and I think Sayaka is grateful too for this. So… Thank you from deep down."

"You don't have to thank me. It was completely normal from me to help you during such a hard time. This is how love works, right? You take care of the other one when they don't feel good. You did it for me when I was lonely and got injured in _that_ case, it was only fair of me to return the favour, don't you think?"

Makoto laughed for a bit before conversation started again.

"Let's not hide anything from each other again, okay? You tell me about your issues, and I'm telling you about mine, so we can help the other! If we date, it's normal I think!"

"I wholeheartedly agree."

Since this day, Kyoko Kirigiri always told herself not to prioritize cases above anyone or anything else important to her.


End file.
